just need a quick confirmation on my idiocy

It appears you have it all set up, just that the slot in the intermediate shaft is pointing more towards 3-5, than 1.

I find if I use two screwdrivers I can get the shaft to walk up and off the cam gear. But if I'm not mistaken it's easier to turn it counterclockwise and go nearly half way around. Like said above, you'll need to account for the amount of "shift" or "turn" as the shaft goes back down on the cam gear.

With the distributor installed, confirm the rotor is pointing to the cap tower that connects the plug wire to number 1. Then confirm clockwise is 18436572. After that, start that puppy up!!!